Battles rage across Aleppo as Assad regime fights to quell rebels

BEIRUT: Rebels in Syria’s second largest city were on Monday coming under intense aerial bombardment from forces loyal to the Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad, less than two days after they fought through regime lines to break the siege of rebel-held east Aleppo.

Activists say intense airstrikes have continued unabated after rebels seized Ramouseh, a district in south-west Aleppo, allowing them to open a corridor into the besieged areas.

“We are in our trenches but there are insane airstrikes of unprecedented ferociousness,” a commander in the rebel coalition told Reuters. “The regime is using cluster and vacuum bombs.”

Over the weekend, rebels in a coalition known as Jaish al-Fatah launched a lightning advance that sealed the conquest of Ramouseh, a key district through which supplies flow to government forces in west Aleppo. The advance followed a rare show of unity among the opposition, which began a campaign a week ago involving thousands of fighters working to break the siege.

The coalition includes Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra, which last month said it was severing ties with al-Qaida’s central command and played a key role in the battle.

Aleppo has been a battleground since 2012, when it was stormed by the opposition and divided into a regime-controlled western half and an east under rebel dominion. The east has been left in ruins, pummelled in an unforgiving aerial campaign by the Assad regime.

Assad’s troops imposed a siege last month after seizing high ground overlooking the Castello Road, the only thoroughfare bringing aid to the east of the city from Turkey, which backs the opposition.

The rebel victory in Ramouseh, while technically ending the siege, does not mean there will be immediate relief for residents of east Aleppo. The area remains a war zone under intense bombardment, and it is unlikely the opposition can use it yet to ferry in significant supplies.

It is only a matter of time before rebels capture all of Aleppo, the head of Syria’s main opposition coalition said on Monday as fighters launched an offensive to take the divided second city in its entirety.

Syrian National Coalition chief Anas al-Abdeh, in an interview with AFP, also praised a new-found unity among opposition factions that has seen the Fateh al-Sham Front — which used to have ties with Al-Qaeda — join forces with other rebels in the battle for Aleppo.

Over the weekend, opposition fighters succeeded in ending a three-week government siege of Aleppo’s rebel-held east — a major blow to the government forces of President Bashar al-Assad.“I think this possibly is one of the most important developments of the Syrian revolution in the last five and a half years,” Abdeh said in an interview in Istanbul, where the National Coalition is based.

“I think it will pave the way for a proper political transition, something the international community is not taking sufficiently seriously.”

Aleppo, once Syria’s economic hub and one of the oldest cities in the Middle East, has been roughly divided between government forces in the west and rebel groups in the east since fighting there first broke out in 2012.

Asked if the rebels could now take all of Aleppo in what would be the biggest blow to Assad of the entire war, Abdeh said: “I think it is just a matter of time. It will happen.” He added: “We see very clearly the regime forces are not able to resist.”